If the root (A) resonates from a previous chord or a bass player) I might try something like a C-E-B in the LH–a rootless Am7(+9) voicing. If the F# is an important part of the melody (guide tone or not), you need to decide whether or not to include a G (the 7th of Am7) in your LH voicing because of the potential dissonance between G and F#. This specific case is an interesting one because of the F#–I suspect it’s a guide tone rather than a chord tone, otherwise the chord would be written Am or Am6.
If so, I think the answer is straightforward–use the melody as a guide to the voicing you choose. What to play in your LH when reading a lead sheet?įor the Jobim example, I assume someone has written Am7 on the lead sheet but the melody has an E and F#.You can play those notes in your RH and the root in the LH, or just play LH alone, but the important point is to think or say Dm7 - G7 - C6 as you’re going through the drill. It can be helpful to think or say the chord as you’re going through the drill eventually, you’ll start to think of chords as a collection of notes instead of an ordered array.įor example, a 2-5-1 in C might be (LH only): How to familiarize yourself with inversions (and, later, color tones) so that they become intuitive?įor me, instead of arpeggios or isolated inversions, the most helpful exercises are 2-5-1 drills because they place whatever voicing you’re using into context.I think there may be two aspects to your question: I’m sure Hayden will jump in with thoughtful and comprehensive suggestions but I thought I would offer my 2 cents… I understand the theory behind being able to use whatever inversion one wants, but a quick “read” of a chord in its 2nd inversion is a challenge and frustrating.Īny tricks to speeding up the recognition process would be greatly appreciated? Sorry to continue to beat a dead horse, but isn’t it one of the layers of the jazz onion that needs to be peeled by everyone? I usually write my (limited understanding at this level) version over the chord symbol and move on. I am always working on inversions and arpeggios but get very frustrated when trying to get a handle on the chord notations in a piece and encounter these differences. (After studying jazz theory for a while now, just getting to the point where I can convert it to what I think works is an accomplishment but a faulty one!) Any tricks to speeding up the recognition process? I am echoing Zyah’s response that when I see a chord notation such asīut the sheet music in this instance - MOJAVE, by Jobim - is an There is a potentially infinite amount of ways that we can voice an F-7 chord, based on the kind of sound we want to create, and this is exactly what makes jazz music so interesting, unique, and exciting… to me at least! I’d recommend that you check out this post:Ĭhord notation frustration lives on. If every jazz musician played F-7 as F-Ab-C-Eb, then everyones music would sound the same. One of the things that makes jazz piano so creative and individual is that we have the freedom to play chords in any inversion, we can leave notes out, we can add notes in to the chord, we can even change the chord completely which is called ‘reharmonisation’.Īs jazz musicians we have a lot of creative freedom to interpret chords, progressions, & tunes. Rootless voicings are a difficult area to grasp for new jazz students.Īs correctly says: inverting a chord does not change the chord, it’s simply another way to ‘voice’ the chord. How does one break this habit? Is it just over time with more practice? Is it a lack of ear training? Please advise. What is tricky is allways to switch from one consideration to an another depending on the goal))) Of course it can be done with 7th or more notes…īut… then… it is more complicated for the brain… Hayden can switch easily from one name of a chord to an another name depending of the harmony.
So… with this, you can consider that a chord is made with 3 elements, no matter where it is played. then… play an arpeggio with one hand and play notes from the triplet randomly on the keyboard with the other hand.then alternate, then chose one note of the triplet to begin on one hand, an another note to begin with an another.one hand doing arpeggio beginning by the 5th and the other beginning by the root.one hand doing arpeggio beginning by the 3rd and the other beginning by the root.normal arpeggios from the root with 2 hands (beginning on the root, then on the 3rd, then on the 5th.
Sorry, but it is a simple exercice from “classical” piano class :